Pages

28 April 2011

The Royal Wedding Guests: An Illustrated Guide (and Fashion News!)

Some fifty members of the British royal family will be in attendance for William and Kate's nuptials. FIFTY. It occured to me that I'd probably have some trouble just naming fifty members of the Windsor clan, let alone recognizing them on sight. So I put a little guide together for my use, and thought I'd share. These are the Windsors with golden tickets to the Abbey, from the most recognizable down to the ones that we hardly ever see, and it's pretty much the entire family (except those too young to behave themselves reliably). Feel free to print and use as a fashion scorecard...that's my grand plan.

William's cousins and spouses/spouses-to-be. Not pictured: William's cousin Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor (age 7), who will be in the bridal party.

The children and grandchildren of the late Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister. The pictures of the kids are woefully out of date; there are only sketchy photos here and here from last summer that are any closer to current age. Not pictured: The Hon. Margarita Armstrong-Jones (age 8), who will be in the bridal party.

The Duke of Gloucester is the Queen's cousin, a grandson of King George V. He, his wife, and their three children (with accompanying spouses) will be in the Abbey.

The Duke of Kent is another cousin of the Queen and grandson of George V. He and his wife will be in the Abbey along with their three children and their three oldest grandchildren.

Prince Michael of Kent is the Duke of Kent's brother. He, his wife, and their two children will be there, along with Frederick's wife.

And the last of the Kents: Princess Alexandra is the sister of Prince Michael and the Duke of Kent. She will be in attendance on Friday with her two children and her daughter-in-law. And on the end we have not a Kent, but The Lady Saltoun. She's related through marriage way back to Queen Victoria, is primarily know as Chief of the Name and the Arms of Fraser, and is considered a member of the extended royal family by the Queen.

Foreign Royals

In addition to the Windsors, plenty of foreign royals will be there. Keep an eye out for these folks:

I've been trying to keep up with news on what the guests will be wearing, though it's certainly not as plentiful as "news" on what the bride will wear. Here's what I've got so far (and I'll keep updating!):

The Countess of Wessex will be in Bruce Oldfield.

The Duchess of Cornwall will wear something from her own wedding gown designer, Anna Valentine.

The Queen will probably be in something designed by her personal dresser, Angela Kelly.

We should see Philip Treacy hats on the Yorks, Sophie, Camilla, Zara, and many, many more. Fabienne Delvigne hats are a likely possibility for Princess Maxima and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, if not Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Mathilde as well.

Carole Middleton was said to have had a falling out with Sarah Ferguson's wedding dress designer, Lindka Cierach, resulting in the cancellation of a commission. Who knows if that's true or not.

Lady Frederick Windsor and Princess Mathilde will wear Armani. The Daily Mail (I know, not so much on the reliability) also claims Armani will dress Princess Nikolaos, who isn't on the released guest list.

Princess Letizia will be wearing Felipe Varela, per usual (thanks to @elpalais on Twitter for that one!).